Sacrament
by Sketchpad
Summary: A mysterious Sapphire contacts the Off-Colors for a simple job, escort duty for a shipful of worshipers. It sounds easy, until they learn that what their clients are worshiping could get them all a one-way ticket to the Great Beyond!
1. Chapter 1

Sacrament…

It was called the Rough Cut, in ironically, flippant honor of the Diamonds' otherwise flawless, physical condition, a dim, raucous, noisy tavern that sat in the depths of an even less respectable section of the industrial civic quarter of Fristal, a distant protectorate of the Diamonds' empire.

Since the establishment was Fristalan-run, and therefore, organic, it catered to fellow organics and Gems, and with prompt bribes and tacit allowances from the city government, it survived Authority scrutiny as one of countless, neutral, watering holes in the underbelly of the empire that catered to the outlaw, the anarchist, and the rebel, whether native or visiting.

Here, one was known for the reputation he, she, or it bore, and was given a respect that reflected that infamy. The prevailing gallows humor was that the reputation of the Rough Cut, itself, was that it was so rough, if one wasn't careful, one would get cut.

To the Off-Colors, sitting in, and for Fluorite, resting by, a booth in one dark corner of the establishment, it was the perfect place to conduct business.

Although food and drink were erstwhile luxuries to Lars, he quaffed a local concoction that reminded him of a mango smoothie with a slight kick of fermentation.

He and Rhodonite concentrated on watching the various patrons that sauntered, drunkenly, or with a purpose, around the dark environs of the establishment, while waiting for their contact.

A pink pearl and a blue pearl sang a saucy duet on stage to the lecherous approval of other Gems and a few aliens who came to blow off steam, with Fluorite watching their performance, in rapt attention.

The Rutile Twins gave each other a knowing glance from the polyfusion's behavior. Fluorite may have looked matronly, but there was always a simmering passion for Gems that caught her many eyes, as the number of her displayed gems attested to.

"One of us should have been by the door, in case this is a trap, or something," Rhodonite muttered to Lars, her double eyes sweeping at any motion outside their booth.

"It couldn't be helped, Rhodonite," Lars whispered, slouching forward from his side of the table. "Don't worry, though, even among these characters, she'll probably stand out."

Suddenly, a feeling of extreme cold crept along Lars's side. He looked down to see a dagger, made of ice, gently touching the skin above his kidney, drawing his attention to its owner, a small, hooded figure.

Padparadscha, looking like an out-of-place child, in the tavern, suddenly stiffened and gasped, "Lars, a Sapphire will be holding a dagger on you!"

"Thanks, Padparadscha," Lars said, as he and the others wondered who this little, knife-wielding figure was, beyond her gem-type.

"Uh, they say that, no matter what, diamonds are always shiny and clean," Lars said, recalling his half of his given code phrase.

The small Gem, a Blue Sapphire, smiled under her hood, replying her half. "There's not enough polish in the universe to keepthem clean."

She put away the weapon, explaining, "Sorry, but when you do the things I do, even with my powers, you learn to be careful."

"My thoughts, exactly," Lars said, still slouched on his side of the table, but lifting the elbow closest to her, so she could see the charged tip of the pronged destabilizer that the elbow obscured.

"Not bad," the Sapphire nodded.

"So, what do we call you, 'cuz, I can't remember all of that cuts and facet stuff."

"Call me Azure, and I want to hire you and your crew for a small job."

The eyebrow over Lars' scar hiked up in interest. "We're listening."

"We are Star-worshippers, illegal in the eyes of the Authority. In orbit, lies the last place of worship for any of us, a Star Temple. We want you to be our escort when we go there."

"How come?" Lars asked.

"We only have a civilian shuttle and we'll need protection from Authority forces, while we spend some time on-board the Temple, communing with the stars. Word has spread about the Off-Colors' actions against the Diamonds, and so, we hoped that you would help us."

When Lars cupped his chin in thought, Azure added, quickly, "We can pay, of course."

"Well, we are low on funds," the captain considered, coyly. "All right! Get your people ready and we'll meet you in low orbit."

"Thank you, Captain!" Azure sighed in relief. "May the Stars forever shine upon you." With that, she left the booth and disappeared into the activity of the tavern.

"What do you think, guys?" Lars conferred with his compatriots. "Should we take this?"

"It'll be tricky protecting an unarmed shuttle in the middle of a firefight," Rhodonite advised.

"She's got a point there/No two ways about it," the Rutile Twins concurred.

"I'm sure...that the Star-worshippers...understand the risks," Fluorite uttered, sagaciously.

Lars took most of his crew's feelings into account, and then looked towards his tactical advisor.

"What do you think, Padparadscha?" he asked her.

After a moment, she serenely said to him, "I predict...that you will do the right thing."

Considering that her prediction was based on his concerns of the immediate past, Lars acquiesced. They've faced odds in their burgeoning piratical career that would have been terminal to anyone else. His confidence was always rewarded with the fact he had the ship and the crew that could get the job done.

He stood from the table, finished his sweet drink, and made his decision.

* * *

The Sun Incinerator maintained a close position with the shuttle, a slow, boxy affair that held the lives of forty worshippers on-board.

From the Incinerator's view port, the crew could see, on approach, a dingy-white, long-spired, star-shaped structure winking in the nearby star shine of Fristal's sun, a legendary Star Temple.

"What do you see, Pads?" Lars asked her.

The Sapphire waited, and then, reported on the station's past. "The Temple is old, damaged, and the last of its kind. Its sister Temples were destroyed by the Authority, eons ago. In defiance to imperial edict, it still manages to minister to those who still believe, whenever it appears over their worlds."

"It's big, shields are weak in places, but has no weapons," Rhodonite reported from her station. "And I don't see any other ships, so far."

Satisfied, Lars regarded the helm. "Okay, Twins, bring us in."

"Rodger/Captain."

After the shuttle's pilgrims broadcasted an all-safe signal to the Temple, the Incinerator led its charge, on approach, to the station's hangar/airlock level.

Following the faithful into the Temple's central spire, the Off-Colors walked through an arched doorway and saw the grand stage of the devout.

The Great Hall was simply constructed, a wide, high-domed, circular chamber that almost reminded Lars of a concert venue, if not for the vast, arched window on the opposite end of the far entrance, that towered above everyone and thing, giving a clear and awe-inspiring vista of the heavens, outside.

A rise, decorated with small stones, bracketed the room's circumference, and in the center of its broad floor was a scuffed, but still legible, stylized star, whose rays spread halfway across the width of the chamber. At the ends of the star's radiants were the images of Gems of differing facets and colors, with even the four Diamonds, spread among their number.

However, as they walked further into the room, everyone's attention was soon taken, wide-eyed, by the massive, multi-limbed figure standing, back-lit, under the window, flanked by its smaller attendants.

"Welcome, Children of the Stars, to the Star Temple," announced the figure, a smiling, serene-looking Sardonyx in star-patterned vestments.

She peered over the parishioners to the pirates, nearby. "And thank you for guiding them to our humble sanctuary. Azure has told us your exploits and we are glad that her trust in you is well-founded. Although our time in this system is short, please rest and refresh yourselves while we begin our service."

"Uh, thanks, Father," Lars said, in an awkward reflex to addressing this cleric. The Sardonyx seemed to sense the odd respect he tried to convey, and gave him a bow of understanding.

"Before you...begin," Fluorite asked the Sardonyx. "Could we join...your ceremony? As permafusions, such...an opportunity would be rare...and wonderful, and we...wouldn't want to miss out."

The Sardonyx's multiple eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "As High Fusion Priestess of the last Star Temple, I would be honored if you would join us. Please, take a spot on the floor."

With a grateful bow, Fluorite, followed by a shy and nervously smiling Rhodonite, undulated to a bare space on the wide floor, while the other followers stood on chosen places around them, like dancers preparing for a waltz, and the station slowly rotated so that the window faced Fristal's sun.

The Sardonyx took her place in front of the window, the four attendants standing near her, from below. Then, she raised her arms and addressed the congregation.

"The stars, a primal, benevolent force that existed long before even the Diamonds claimed the heavens," she called out. "From their fiery hearts, they created all we see, all light, all matter. Through their holy act of fusion, they created the one from the disparate, and this is the example that we follow, in deference and honor of our creation.

"From the disparate comes the one-many elements fuse to become the Gem." Upon saying that, her attendants gave an atonal, monotone chant that echoed hauntingly across the ceiling.

"From the disparate comes the one-many Gems fuse to become the Fusion!" she proclaimed above them.

The chanting attendants sidestepped against each other, merging thought, emotion, and their hard light construct bodies into two fusions: unique in appearance and harmonious gestalt of mind, now singing in a higher register.

Upon seeing this, the worshippers, all of them, singular Gems, looked lovingly at their partners and fused upon touching them, the combined light of the mutual pairings illuminating the chamber with a primordial light.

Rhodonite and Fluorite, already permafusions, allowed the ritual to take hold of them, their eyes and the cores of their gems, followed the other fusions', and glowed with ancient fire, their voices raised with the others in a haunting cant, as the sun's distant light bathed them.

Off to one side of the chamber, Lars, who was leaning against the Hall's rise, with the other, already enchanted, Off-Colors, was impressed with the imagery and drama of the spectacle.

"This is the coolest concert I ever seen," he commented to himself, with an approving nod.

In the midst of her ecstasy, Fluorite wanted to see how Rhodonite was doing, but then, as she came down from her heightened state, she noticed that Azure was standing alone among the now smaller population of fusions.

So as not to disturb the others, Fluorite waved one of her lower hands, until she had the sapphire's attention. Then, Azure walked over to them.

"Azure...why aren't you fused?" asked the polyfusion. "Where...is your partner?"

Azure looked unsure, but she admitted, "Jade...she left when the ritual began. She said that she left something in the shuttle, but she didn't come back."

"Perhaps...we should go...look for her," Fluorite suggested, tapping Rhodonite gently on the shoulder to bring her back into the here and now.

* * *

In the shadow of the shuttle's bow, a lone Gem, a diminutive Jade, absently kicked aside the conical rainbow gem of a Bismuth hangar engineer, before changing shape and settling into the form of a lean, reddish Gem clad in a body suit striped with bands of green and white.

"Thanks for refueling the ship," she said to the poofed victim. "Service with a smile."

She took a satisfied look past the blunt nose of the ship, to the nearby berthed Sun Incinerator, the hangar's tall ceiling and the criminals, somewhere on the decks above, and anticipated the devastating end to a long, unloved assignment.

Then, she walked over to the forward landing gear, opened a unlocked hat switch on the hydraulic strut, and depressed a button, allowing the shuttle's main hatch to unseal itself and descend.

The sound of someone entering the hangar's pressurized entrance from the hall, outside, made her turn to see two fusions and a familiar gem walking towards her.

"What are you doing here?" the Gem asked. "Shouldn't you be with those other heretical fusions in the Great Hall?"

Azure, a psychic Gem, looked genuinely confused by how things were playing out. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Where's Jade?"

"In reverse order, I was never Jade, I'm Tourmaline. Watermelon Tourmaline, Authority Intelligence, and what I'm doing is leaving, because I placed a plasma bomb in the Temple's reactor, and I'd like to get out before I detonate it," the agent said, matter-of-factly.

Despite having no blood, the other Gems grew cold with shock.

"You're a spy, and I didn't see that! Why?" Azure asked.

"Like I said, I'm a Watermelon Tourmaline," said Melon the spy. "I can infiltrate and copy the appearance of other Gems. That's what we're made for, and I played my part in your sad little cause well enough to fool even your mental powers."

"No, I mean why are you doing this to these innocent Gems?" Azure pressed.

"They aren't innocent, and neither are you!" Melon sneered. "Look at yourself, trying to bond with a Gem that's different than you. Where's you sense of purity, of loyalty to the Diamonds, your honor?"

Rhodonite was suddenly moved to speak, softly, in response to the spy's narrow vision. "I once thought that same way you do. I always questioned myself, ashamed of who I was. But, I found out that I love who I am, that their love created me. How can you say that it's wrong?"

"Indeed. We are all...Children of the Stars," Fluorite told her, evenly. "They created the universe, us...by the fusing of different elements...together. In their great wisdom...they gave us the gift...of fusion, to remind us...of that ancient power of creation."

Melon wanted to laugh in the old fool's face. "Spoken like one of those long-shattered Fusion Priestesses!" she scoffed. "The continual unity of the Diamond Authority should be the only fusion that concerns you, harridan."

Fluorite fixed the Tourmaline with an uncommonly hard look. "Not all...were shattered."

"Ask me if I care!" the agent spat. "I know why Star Temples were built in the first place, '...to celebrate the glorious act of fusion, in all its levels, for strength, for understanding, and for love.' I read the dossier on all of that religious clap-trap."

Azure, noticing that Melon was still talking, and the station wasn't particulates, yet, attempted to buy more time and appeal to her better nature, once more. "Please, Tourmaline, you still have time to do the right thing! Stop the bomb and let the Temple go!"

Her entreaties were rewarded with a look from the agent as hard as her gem. "I am a loyal citizen of the Authority. I amdoing the right thing. It was by the Diamonds' decree that they should be seen as the pinnacle of Gem society, the unattainable height that all other Gems aspire!

"This...preoccupation with the stars, robs the Diamonds of the glory they have long-since earned by forging this government. The stability of the laws that protect you, the personal comforts that you pursue, the simple honor of being a citizen of this awesome empire...These are the gifts that were bestowed upon your ungrateful brows, and those heretics above us cheat our leaders of their due!"

She fixed a glare of simmering hate towards the Sapphire. "You have no idea what it was like to stand with you, to fuse with you. Waiting year after year for that accursed satellite to appear in-system, all the while, hearing you and the others bleat,'Oh, my stars-this,' and 'Oh, my stars-that.' Those nostalgic fools want to worship the stars? In a few minutes, they'll be blown across them!"

She stiffened and brought the back of her hands and knuckles together into the angular salute of the Authority, revealing her square, pink and green gem on her right palm. "The Diamonds are our strength! The Diamonds are our future! Long shine the Diamonds!"

She brought her hands out of the salute, lifted them to eye level and oriented them, as though they were about to hold each other, and clapped the palms together. As she slowly pulled the hands away from each other, energy from her palm gem radiated between her hands. When the energy dissipated, there was a large, chisel-hard katar in gripped in each hand. "Long shine the Diamonds!"

The Ruby within Rhodonite communed with her lover, telling her, as a warrior, what needed to be done. There was simply no convincing this Tourmaline, no more appeals, and no more time.

Rhodonite gulped, and then, turned to the others. "Fluorite, go to the reactor and try to defuse the bomb! Azure, warn the others! I'll...try to keep her here!"

As she watched the two leave the hangar in a rush, Melon gave the remaining fusion a curious and bemused look, while she brandishing her katars. "To what end, Off-Color, to scare me into surrendering, to save your crew, like that Padparadscha? How ironic. One of the rarest of her kind, and she's not even worth the dirt she crawled out of."

"That, you're going to pay for," Rhodonite uttered, with a deep frown, as one of her Pearl's hands reached up to her chest, gracefully pulled a keen saber from the glowing depths of her gem, and assumed an archaic combat pose.

The Tourmaline almost dropped one of her punch daggers in a fit of bitter laughter. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! That's a Pearl's stance! There's a reason we don't use them in combat, anymore! In the Diamonds' wisdom, they were given their true purpose. The Pearl inside of you will wish she heeded that wisdom, before the end!"

The detonator was safely hidden aboard the ship and she could, confidently, get to it at any time. Now, was the time to test her blades on this Off-Color, and teach her the folly of defying the will of the Authority.

And so, between the two of them, alone in the hangar of a doomed station, an unexpected battle was joined.d.


	2. 2

The armored doors of Main Engineering slid aside for Fluorite, as she galumphed from the tight confines of the elevator, and into the foyer of the humming, cavernous facility.

No one came to meet her or ask why she was there, and she was about to call for assistance, when one of her feet brushed against a small object lying on the softly vibrating floor.

Looking down, the polyfusion saw a deck glittering with scattered, destabilized Gems.

Although, she was thankful that the Tourmaline hadn't the time to slaughter the engineering crew, Fluorite gave a low sigh of frustration. The deck was far larger that the one she commanded on board the Incinerator and it intimidated her, somewhat.

Thinking about the lives that were now in her four hands, she put aside her insecurity, and serpentined deeper into the level, going by plain old common sense as to where Melon would efficiently place her bomb.

Yards ahead, she came upon an archway that opened to a vast, circular observational balcony surrounding a brilliantly pulsating, towering, cylindrical core. The beating heart of the Star Temple, Fluorite reasoned.

Looking over its curved railing, she looked down the side of the, otherwise, smooth surface of the core, and noticed a distant protrusion, meters down, the bomb, sitting quietly on its target, like a poisonous spider on a leg of an unaware victim.

* * *

Edge crashed into edge, singing with every lethal contact, as the Gem and fusion struck and circled to find each other's vulnerabilities under their defenses. They danced apart, separating and using the space of the hangar to rest and size one another up, once more.

The Tourmaline moved in, her arms, a controlled dervish of weaponry, as she attempted to gut Rhodonite with one katar, or try to drive the tempered tip of the other into the Pearl above her chest, hoping her hard light construct of a body would be good enough to provide enough resistance to hold the gem in place for it to be cracked.

Rhodonite, who was not as experienced, backed away from the aggressive attack, her saber just parrying the other Gem's slashes, countering with ripostes against the agent's thrusts to get under her defense and score a desperate hit, and trying to swat katar-weaponed arms away, carefully, with her hands.

She had to keep fighting defensively for some breathing space, as she circled in retreat, trying to maintain enough situational awareness of the hangar to avoid backing into a wall, while she tried to be the strategist she was to the crew, and analyze her opponent.

As a government agent, Watermelon Tourmaline was experienced in combat, fluid in shape-shifting, and flexible of mind and reflexes. Combined with those katars, she was a foe to be respected.

'We have to find a weakness!' the Pink Ruby within her thought.

'Her strength is her flexibility, her ability to adapt,' the Pink Pearl reasoned. 'That's why Tourmalines like her always made good spies!'

'Then, how do we stop her?' Ruby asked. 'How do we take that flexibility away?'

There was a brief moment of mental silence, and then, came an answer.

'If we could trap her, somehow,' the Pearl thought. 'Do you think...we can do it?'

Her inner conference was interrupted by Melon's mocking diatribe. "I have one lesson to give to you, Off-Color, before your fear fails your people, and I shatter you on the point of my blades. Loyalty is greater than death."

Rhodonite gave a sigh of inner concentration and calm, focusing on the faces of the people she stayed to protect. She locked eyes on the Tourmaline and muttered, "For once, we agree."

Then, Melon saw something that took her by troubling surprise. "What?"

Rhodonite assumed a focused wide-legged stance, as her Pearl hands grasped the curved sword forward, in a two-handed grip. The upturned palms of her Ruby hands ignited into miniature hells, and then, sandwiched the saber's thin blade between them, with a clap, glowing the deep, curved fullers and engulfing the sword in flame, from guard to tip.

When the hands moved away, the length of the saber's fire danced with a promise of destruction and flickered hungrily with every expression of her unified will.

Aggravated, the Tourmaline believed that she faced, in her estimation, a misguided permafusion. But, she had to give pause to facing one with falling stars for upper hands, a sword of fire sweeping, gracefully, in one of her thin, lower hands, and four eyes that seemed to burn hotter than any of them.

Without a word, both Gems closed in and fought for position, again, to defeat, and possibly shatter, the other. But, with fire, now, in the equation, the tables were dramatically turning.

The flaming saber whirled in for close, chopping attacks to Melon's upper torso and face. The agent managed to deflect the blows with her two weapons, but the fiery light show both confused and distracted her with its proximity and roar. Soon, she found herself on the back foot, as she suddenly received unexpected and frighteningly hot blows to the face, chest and torso from the fusion's infernal hands.

Melon broke the duel and desperately jogged away from Rhodonite to get some distance, herself, grateful that the fusion was foolish enough not to follow the kill.

Turning her scorched and bruised face to her, the government agent refused to let the uncanny power of the criminal rattle her, and so, flew into her next assault towards the pirate, born of a confidence for the impending kill, leading with one katar, and having the other held in a high defensive position over her chest.

Rhodonite rushed forward, focusing all of her attention on the target Melon had left unguarded-her midriff.

Two feet...one foot...

Melon and Rhodonite both let loose a wail of will, as the Tourmaline raised the katar for a stabbing strike.

Rhodonite, however, slowed to a quick halt, catching the agent off-guard, raised one muscular leg and thrust out a kick to Melon's gut that lifted her off her feet and launched her backwards into a crashing stumble, rolling hard against the deck, and then, clutching her belly.

Shifting awkwardly to her knees to recover, Melon lifted her head to find the fusion, and watched as Rhodonite pointed her saber to the floor, a path of fire braiding out from the sword's tip towards the confused Gem.

Melon stood up, unsure and unsteadily, to ready some sort of counter to whatever was happening, but found herself helpless, as the fire braid unraveled, at her end, into two paths that opened and encircled her in a tight corral of flames.

Rhodonite, satisfied that Melon was sufficiently contained, walked with confidence up her fiery road to the trapped Gem, while inside, Melon crossed her katars up to her body to protect them from the licking flames. They were too high to jump over, and too hot to brave.

The dossiers all Tourmaline agents had on the Off-Colors, was that Rhodonite's Ruby component was, naturally, pyrogenetic, but now, the entire fusion had become pyrokinetic. This ability was new and undocumented, and she hoped to be the one to report that fact to her Agate handler, if she survived the mission.

But, at the moment, all she could do was wait and see what happened next, in the center of her personal inferno.

She gasped when Rhodonite shoved her face, unscathed, through the blazing wall, and then, stepped inside the corral with her.

Melon didn't know what to do about her prison, but with Rhodonite so close to her, now, a victory was still possible. She opened her arms to try a close-quarters attack.

That was when the fusion reached out and caught the spy's wrists in her Ruby's muscular, burning hands. The searing, crushing pain of their grip caused Melon's hands to spring open, the two katars, falling impotently, to the smoking deck.

With a grunt, Rhodonite used her height and Ruby-enhanced strength to lift the Tourmaline screaming off her feet, and in the defense of the defenseless, she stared hard into the eyes of the agent, who shivered in whimpering agony, in her hands, and at her mercy.

"Off-Color..." Melon seethed through her teeth. "H-How..."

"My lesson," Rhodonite told her. "It's not wrong having the powers of a Diamond, only in using them like one."

They were the last words Watermelon Tourmaline heard before Rhodonite's Pearl arm rammed her fire saber into the agent's midsection, turning the speechless Gem into a flaming, wafting cloud of defeat, her manual gem falling onto the hot, metal floor.

* * *

Fluorite paced like a dragon on the balcony, visibly stymied as to how to reach the explosive from so far away. There was no other balcony below this one, but somehow, Melon was able to descend and plant her bomb, successfully. But, how?

She wanted to talk to herself, to reason out a plan of attack, but the Gem gestalt within her debated with itself to find a solution, which slowed her down to a literal, uncertain crawl, and wasted even more time.

Then, something in her perked up, a mental voice in the cacophony, that she endeavored to isolate, that told her to look around for something to...

Climb...

Fluorite opened all six of her large eyes and swept her gaze, desperately, across the balcony's deck. Gems, dropped tools, and equipment, all archaic by modern standards, littered the floor.

With her small, booted feet, she cruised around the circular deck, seeing more of the same, until, from the corner of her widened vision, she spotted a long length of cable coiled by the edge of the platform, one end tied fast to a length of the curvilinear railing.

Coming up to it, Fluorite leaned over and looked straight down. From her position, she could see, in the distance, a bulbous, blinking device affixed to the clear side of the shielded reactor core.

Quickly unfurling the line, Fluorite bent around and lassoed one end of the tether around the last segment of her body, gathered the rest of the cable in her lower pair of arms, and carefully curled herself over the railing.

"Oh...dear," she fretted, with a grunt of effort. "I'm much...too old...for this!"

Using her many feet to rappel, and her hands to carefully release the line, Fluorite slowly and awkwardly lowered herself down the side of the wide core shaft, looking for all the worlds, like an elderly, rainbow-colored silkworm.

Meter after ungraceful meter, after she would coil to rest, she descended closer and tantalizingly closer towards the bomb.

Finally, the swaying polyfusion gave a weary grin, not believing her luck in getting within reaching distance of the device, but she could now see the rotund weapon at eyes-level to her.

Holding her bulk up by hanging on to the cable with her upper set of hands, Fluorite stretched her lower set out to grab the edges of the bomb.

With lean fingers clutching the sides, she tugged, yanked and, finally, pulled the bomb free from the magnetic adhesion that connected it to the side of the core.

Sighing in deep relief, Fluorite hugged the bomb, securely, while she prepared to shimmy up to the balcony. Then, the bomb spoke to her.

"Warning! This bomb has been removed from magnetic connection to its target. Since remote detonation has not occurred, this device will now activate fail-safe protocol."

Confused, Fluorite had to wonder what else this devilish thing could do, if it couldn't explode.

"Oh...dear."

* * *

In the Great Hall, the rest of the Off-Colors watched another phase of the ritual's activities, as the Gems that had fused earlier, now separated, and were now fusing with other Gems in the group, creating more alien-looking, cross-Gem fusion combinations in the aftermath of their colorful, luminescent mergings.

"Boy, if they had something like this back on Earth," Lars mused, aloud. "This church would be rolling in dough. It's like Cirque du Ole', in here."

"Is that/Good?" the Twins asked, curious about the famed circus.

"Oh, yeah," he explained. "It's a French-Mexican thing. Big entertainment back home."

From the entrance to the Hall, the corsairs could see Azure running towards them, and Lars gave her a friendly wave.

"Welcome back. You better get back on the dance floor, before somebody takes your spot," the rosy human quipped.

"Friends," the Sapphire gasped. "A Diamond spy just put a bomb on board the Temple! Fluorite went to try to disarm it, and Rhodonite is in the hangar with the spy!"

Although the fact that his friends were in a serious jam moved Lars and the Twins to action, the word, 'bomb' stayed fearfully in their minds.

"Bomb?" their captain sputtered. "In here? Where?"

"Where is Fluorite? Do/We have time to evacuate?"

Padparadscha stiffened, and then faced her fellow pirates. "Friends, I predict that there is a bomb in this Temple!"

"We know, Padparadscha," Lars fretted. "We've gotta find Fluorite and Rhodonite, and figure out how to get these people outta here!"

"Indeed. I, also, predict that this same bomb has just sent a signal to an Authority ship on the edge of this star system. Curious," she added, without missing a beat.

As if in cue, Fluorite snaked into the Hall, holding a rounded object, and making a weary beeline to her crew.

"Good news, Fluorite has just brought the bomb with her," Padparadscha said, cheerfully.

"What?" Lars exclaimed. "Ugh! What else could go wrong?"

"Fluorite, why are/You holding a bomb?" the Twins gasped.

"It's not...counting down...but, I...didn't know what...to do...with it," the polyfusion huffed in exhaustion from getting from Main Engineering. "I couldn't...leave it...where it was."

The small commotion drew the attention of the star-worshippers, the Sardonyx, and the other priestesses, who stopped the ritual and let the fusions separate back into their individual Gems.

"What is the matter, here?" Father asked, looming over the Off-Colors, as she approached.

"Father, somebody put a bomb on board your Temple," Lars explained. "Fluorite, says that it might not explode, but Padparadscha said that it transmitted a signal to a ship, somewhere. Does that mean anything to you?"

The tall fusion's face darkened. "Yes, it does. It means that our old enemy, the Diamonds, have made a move against us, yet again. But, this time, they may very well have us at their mercy."

"Why?" asked Lars.

"Because, we are out of power," Father said, simply. "That is why we are here."

What are you/Talking about?" the Twins asked, shaking their heads, incredulously. "We scanned your Temple/Saw your reactor. That thing's/A powerhouse!"

The Sardonyx nodded, wistfully. "Yes. This Temple was made at a time when things were built things to last. It will run for eons more. But, that's not the issue, here. A long, long time ago, the power conduits of this Temple's navicom were damaged when the Temple escaped from an Authority ambush. We were wanted as criminals and heretics, and because of that, it became too dangerous for us to reach out to an imperial world for repairs.

"We would not recant or stop our sacred duty, so we decided to keep moving, century after century, to avoid capture. However, to do that, the navicom needs to be constantly powered. Luckily, the lay crew was able to patch an external generator to the navicom, to keep it running...but at a cost.

"Because there are so few Fusion Priestesses on-board, every two hundred years, one of the visiting faithful is given the choice to become the new power supply for the navicom's generator."

Lars knew enough about what that entailed to ask a troubling question. "They get harvested? For how long?"

"For two hundred years, until there is nothing left, so that we may continue to teach the old ways, to shelter the faithful, and defend the faith," Father said, matter-of-factly. She cast her gaze across the Hall, and then, said, "They even watch over us, when we perform our ceremonies."

The captain caught her look, and reasoned. "What a minute. You mean the stones in this room are-"

"Our most revered, yes," said the High Fusion Priestess. "Those who gave us their very life energies to help us to continue the work. They sacrifice, so others serve."


	3. 3

"That's crazy!" Lars exclaimed, in frustration.

"No, it is a choice," she said, evenly. "With no energy to power our navicom, we cannot escape this trap. But, we do explain what is asked of them, and they have the final word. We can do nothing. If one of the faithful accepts, then we are destined to continue our sacred work, if they refuse and we are arrested and shattered, then that is our fate, as well."

Lars shook his head. This was all too much to take in or accept. Giving the high-and-mighty Authority a bloody nose, every once and a while, was one thing, but he didn't sign up to serve his crew, his ship, or these delusional Gems up for suicide.

He turned and called out to the confused throng still standing in the middle of the circular floor, "Okay, everybody! Church is out! We did all we can do, here. Let's go back to the hangar!"

Reluctantly, the star-worshippers left the floor and gathered by the archway of the Hall, their souls lifted for a time, and wanting more of the same, but were, spiritually, held down, once more, by the intrigues of the Diamonds.

Lars and his crew joined the crowd, but then, he noticed that Padparadscha was still in the center of the room, next to Father, her attendants, and Azure.

"Padparadscha, c'mon!" Lars told her, as he approached to get her. "It's too dangerous. We can't stay here!"

"Wait," said the pirate Sapphire. "I am having a prediction."

"What? Can't this wait until we're on the Incinerator?"

"I predict...that you will do the right thing."

Lars rolled his eyes, heavenward, which seemed a lot closer, considering where they were. "C'mon, Pads, you said that the last time."

"I know. I am simply reminding you."

He thought back to those words and, in retrospect, understood their meaning as it applied to him, right now.

"Be reasonable!" he wailed, pointing to the Sardonyx, nearby. "She's asking too much of these people!"

"Maybe," Azure said, stepping up to Lars, and holding his hand to ease his worries. "But, not too much of me."

"What are you...talking about...Azure?" Fluorite asked from the archway.

"It's times like this that our faith is most tested," the Sapphire explained, solemnly. "Even though I was fooled by that spy, I knew that you came to our planet. I saw how you all saved us, and how I saved us. That's why I contacted you. I've seen my fate, and I know what I have to do, but not because my vision told me so, but because my faith did!"

"You might have a point, Azure," Lars sighed. "But, they're still asking too much! You have a life back on your world! It's too risky!"

"Every worshipper risked her life to come here, Lars, for what they loved and believed in," Azure expounded, emotionally. "Ifthey didn't think it was too much, what does that say about them? Or you?"

"This isn't about me," he said, almost sheepishly.

"It is," Azure implored him. "For your friends, here, or your loved ones, that I can see, on your world, what would be asking too much of you?"

The sheer weight of the Gem's impassioned words, and the number of people who cared for him, Human and Gem, struck Lars with a hard silence.

A silence that was broken, suddenly, by energized weapons fire that made the ponderous Temple shudder, under everyone's feet.

Father glanced out of the main window of the Hall. "They're here."

Lars screwed his pink face into a solemn mask of realization and resolution.

"Nothing would be too much. You're right. You guys weren't here to hurt anybody," he admitted, more to himself than to anyone present. "You have a right to what you believe in."

He turned to the little Gem. "If you need to do this, we'll help you." He was rewarded with a grateful hug around the knees from the Sapphire.

He regarded the High Priestess, next. "All right, Father, we don't have anything for your collection plate, but how about we buy you some time, instead."

The Sardonyx brightened and bowed. "You would do that? Thank you, Captain."

With a smile and a jaunty, gun-like point of his fingers, the captain and his tactical advisor rejoined the rest by the archway.

"Okay, Off-Colors, let's go get Rhodonite," Lars told them. "And then, we'll give that ship, out there, a bit of that old-time religion!"

* * *

The Authority warship was huge, a ponderous, mobile mass of geometric metal that entered high orbit with the Temple from long-range. It was gradually closing the range to its target, firing more for effect, to keep the criminals honest and to help them understand the predicament they were facing.

Two blips from the bridge's tactical sensors detected the launches of a civilian shuttle...and the Sun Incinerator, and the warship's commander eyes widened. The capture of both such prizes would make her a commodore or vice-admiral inside of a week.

And so, the order was given, move into a station-keeping orbit around the Temple to secure it from escape, until Quartz marines could board and capture the structure, and snag the pirate ship with tractor beams, after softening it up with strategically-placed shots to their shields, weapon ports, and engines, before they were boarded.

That only left the shuttle, chugging hard to re-enter Fristal's atmosphere, where the criminals inside would disembark and hide behind their civilian lives. A swift example of Authority justice awaited them, as gunners carefully tracked the slow target across the curve of the planet. One good salvo would end their escape and their crimes.

A barrage from the Incinerator spoiled their aim, at the last minute, as the corsair dared to buzz and strafe the far larger ship.

"That ship is tough, Captain," said Rhodonite from her station, studying the vessel's shield strength and weapon compliment. "Its shield's hardly buckled. It's too bad that we can't go over to Fristal's sun and use its energy."

Lars gritted his teeth, as a blast made their ship hop. "I hear you, Rho, but we have to give the Temple and the shuttle more time."

"That blast was just a love tap, low power," Rhodonite reported. "I don't think they're trying to destroy us."

"Of course not!" Lars grinned, grimly. "We're way too valuable alive, and we'll use that to our advantage."

He turned to his pilot. "Twins, can you keep baiting them and still keep us out of their crosshairs?"

"We'll sure give/It a try!" they said, dancing finger tips across directional keys and acceleration sigils, as the Incineratorbanked and moved among the warship's slower, wider arcs of fire.

* * *

In the quiet, nearly deserted Great hall, Father, her attending clerics, and Azure, were holding a private rite in the ironic shadow of a desperate naval engagement.

The little Sapphire stood before the majesty of the main window's view, thankful that the battle was not seen from there. It was impossible to try and take all of the vista in and understand its depth. It was like a cloud looking into the sky and trying to comprehend the weather that shaped it, or the wind that moved it.

Azure knew that she was the cloud, looking upon the infinite sky, and the intertwining of its beauty and simple truth moved her to tears.

"The stars are so beautiful," she whispered.

Smiling, Father sat down behind Azure, cross-legged, to enjoy the heavens, as well. "They are, my child, and we are all the more beautiful, because of them," the matriarch said. Then, she asked her, "Do you know why you are here?"

Azure gave a peaceful smile, saw the stars, her birthplace and her destiny, one final time, and answered, "I do. For the stars, I sacrifice...so others serve."

One of the attendants, silently, walked up behind her, and with a touch from an old-style destabilizer, Azure was transformed into a cloud, to take her first steps on a journey towards that infinite sky, as her sky-blue gem clattered to the floor.

Another attendant, reverently, picked up Azure, as another, who was walking towards the entrance, while the ritual was being played out, reached the archway and touched a hidden button there.

From the base of the immense view port, a section of the floor split in two and slid away, revealing a large computer bank with a smaller generator, crudely-wired into it. It elevated until it was level with the deck, and stood, like a shrine.

The Sapphire was carried to the generator, and then, placed lovingly, into the windowed erg-converter chamber through a small, hinged window in the generator's side.

From that window, the Fusion Priestesses saw a light flicker through, as if the gem, inside, was awakening for the first time. It pulsed, increasing its flashes, gave a steady glow, and then, suddenly, filled the Great Hall with the brilliance of newborn nova.

In the shadow of Azure's luminescence, the navicom's consoles and function lights twinkled with new power and purpose, automatically running random, auto-pilot, course calculations into the brain of the Temple's FTL drives, which began to roar, like a god, stirred to life.

A woman's voice came over the Hall's PA system. "High Priestess, this is the bridge. Do we have power? Can we continue?"

Father raised her head from the miracle before her and addressed the officer. "Yes, we still have a task to perform. Are you all right?"

"Yes. Some crazy Gem attacked the engineering staff, but they're coming around, now. Should we get under way?"

"Yes, Captain," the Sardonyx said, watching the new life of their cause surge with a blessed light. "We haven't a moment to lose."

* * *

Another hit jolted the corsair, almost tossing the crew from their chairs, as the Rutile Twins narrowly twisted the ship from a more determined cannonade.

"That was close! The shuttle is pulling/Away, Captain, and so is the Temple!" they reported after making another defensive bank.

"Good work, crew!" Lars crowed. "That hound can't catch three rabbits, at once. We're keeping that ship so occupied that her captain's getting desperate."

"That may be, but we can't keep doing this forever," Rhodonite advised. "Pretty soon, she might decide to cut her losses and shatter us."

Lars calmed down. His Strategic Head, ever the pragmatist, was right, of course. This David would continue to toy with that Goliath at their peril, and they were too far from the system's sun to strike a killing blow against the combat vessel. It would hound them until their destruction, if they didn't escape.

The Sun Incinerator shuddered and the ship's inertial dampeners and compensators gave the crew the grim sensation of sudden deceleration. A tractor beam had netted them, at last.

"Ugh! We're caught!/We're being pulled in!" the Twins exclaimed, as they frantically experimented with every angle and blast of the maneuvering thrusters to break them away.

"Rho, target that tractor beam," Lars ordered.

"I can't. That last few shots took out our weapons lock. I'd be firing from the hip."

"It's better than nothing! Do it!"

"Wait!" said a voice from the intercom. Fluorite's.

"What is it, Fluorite?" asked Lars, hoping for a miracle.

"Contact…the shuttle. Ask if anyone knew…if the Jade carried anything on board…when they left Fristal."

"What? What Jade?"

"Do it…Captain!"

Lars tapped a flushed button on the arm of his chair that opened communications. Selecting the shuttle's frequency, he asked Fluorite's question to its pilot, not expecting anything to come of it.

A few dangerous minutes later, the shuttle's pilot reported that a Gem, who was sitting behind the only Jade on-board, saw her store a bag under her seat. Opening the given bag, the pilot described a small handheld device with a central button.

"Did you get all that, Fluorite?" asked the captain.

"Yes! Tell the pilot…to press that button…and then, tell the Twins…to stand by to go…full reverse!"

"When?"

You'll know…the time," the Chief Engineer said, cryptically.

Befuddled, Lars shook his head, but did as he was told.

On the Engineering deck, Fluorite carried a familiar, round object into the outer chamber of the ship's airlock, put it down, and then retreated back into the innards of the level.

She crawled over to the airlock control panel, closed the inner door, opened the outer door, and saw the object shoot, silently, from the pressurized interior, like a bullet into the void.

Except that it didn't just enter space. Because of its tiny, relative weight and mass, the plasma bomb was snatched into the irresistible funnel of the tractor beam.

"Get...ready!" she said over the intercom.

"Captain, something small...was just jettisoned from our airlock," Rhodonite reported. "It was just picked up by the tractor beam and is moving away, fast!"

Lars put the events together, and suddenly startled the bridge crew with a howl of laughter at the outright, beautiful cunning of it.

"Fluorite, I'm gonna kiss you, you big, beautiful bug!" he called out, and then regarded the Twins. "Girls, get ready to go full reverse, now!"

The conjoined Gem look perplexed at the order. "But/Captain!"

"Don't worry," he soothed. "We'll be getting a speed boost in a few seconds. Rhodonite, boost power to shields. It's gonna get bumpy."

On board the warship, the commander gave an absent thought about the small object coming along the tractor beam, when it was reported by her bridge officer.

It was, no doubt, a message buoy, a last-ditch act of heroism to tell those who would come after them of their struggle against the Diamonds. Nonsense.

Her musings were halted by another report from a sensor operator. Apparently, the object, despite its size, was fitted with a Class-A micro-plasma converter.

That sounded familiar to the commander. In her earlier days, as a weapons officer aboard an Authority frigate, the only thing that carried that sort of technology was-

"A bomb!" she shrieked from her command chair. "Kill the tractor beam and raise shields to maximum!"

The orders were carried out with military speed and efficiency; however, fortune had not favored them.

Although the beam was deactivated, simple momentum carried the explosive the rest of the way, where it was now speeding so close to the hull, that the shields, that would have mitigated most of the blast damage and its effect, sprung over and around the bomb, as well as the ship.

The Twins pulled the freed Incinerator up and away, its engines singing a song of protest against the sudden change in course and velocity.

The corsair wheeled around and rocketed towards the shuttle and the Temple, both of which were now going their separate ways.

The shock-wave of an enormous detonation rattled the Off-Colors and their ship from astern. Light panel consoles sparked and a few winked off and failed, but the bridge's over-all functions still rode the brunt of the damage.

"Viewer, rear," Lars ordered. The view port switched to monitor, and showed the bulk of the warship, hulled and gutted from the initial blast, but then, a secondary side-effect was occurring.

The fires that defied the airless cold of space began to creep along the glowing surface and exposed decks of the craft, imploding and consuming the matter of the hulk, like a slowly burning ball of crumpled paper.

Soon, the Authority vessel, transformed into a glowing ball of newly made plasma, settled over Fristal, acting as a temporary, orbital, artificial sun.

An image of the Fristalan shuttle pilot, full of static from the background radiation of the blast, took the wreck's place, and crackled in the view port.

"Was that an explosion?" the shocked pilot asked. "Did...we do that?"

"Congratulations," Lars told him. "You just struck a blow for religious freedom against the Diamonds."

The nervously bemused alien cut transmission and continued to focus on bringing his charges back home, safely, while the view was now filled with the august presence of Father from the Great Hall.

"You have earned an ally in us, Off-Colors," she said. "If ever you need sanctuary from your travels, our door is always open."

Lars gave a respectful nod to the screen. "Thanks, Father. How is Azure, if it's okay to ask?"

"She is a true miracle and a revered member of our holy order. Although she knew what you all would do for us, she, nor we, shall never forget or dishonor your bravery."

"Nor we...yours," Fluorite acknowledged from the winding stairs that led from Engineering to the bridge.

"We must go, now, Off-Colors. Azure is lighting the path that we must follow, to serve those who still believe. May the stars forever shine upon you all."

The transmission ended, and the pirates were privy to the swiftly warping departure of the last Star Temple, and one of the first rays of hope for the people against the Diamonds' tyranny.

Lars slumped wearily in his chair. Cutting things close was always part-and-parcel for a buccaneer, but sometimes, things were shaved too close for comfort. Still, he got up, and walked over to the staircase. He had a debt to pay.

"Fluorite, I owe you a big one!" he said, kneeling down and giving her solid kiss on the bridge of her broad nose.

With the welcome levity the crew felt after Fluorite's reward, the polyfusion couldn't help blushing, giving her bluish coloration a darker hue.

"Oh...my, Captain!" she drawled, with a giggle. "I…haven't felt…like that since…my first fusion."

"Well, you deserve it," said the young captain, as he walked back to his chair. "I didn't even know you still had that thing. It's a good thing you put it to better use. Oh, and you don't have to give me a damage report, I think I can hazard a guess. Do we, at least, have propulsion?"

"We're...a little scuffed…but we can…leave the system," Fluorite reported.

"Good," Lars said, opening a channel, once again. "Time to call on a buddy."

The view port flickered, until the image of a scarred Bismuth with a rainbow Mohawk, filled the screen.

"Lars? Why you pink, troublemakin' squeeze toy!" the Gem exclaimed. "What do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Hey, Spanner," greeted Lars. "We caught a little trouble out in Fristal, and we were wondering if you could patch us up."

The grey Gem guffawed, proudly. "I'll have it looking like it just came out of the shipyards, but I have to warn ya, the price'll be a little steep, because ya caught me in the middle of a ticklish situation."

"Ticklish, with skin that tough?" Lars quipped. "What's the problem?"

"It's my equipment. It's hard to get new parts when you're stayin' one step ahead of the law. I need money to buy a new power reactor."

"Hmm, that is pretty steep," Captain Lars considered. He didn't want to leave her in the lurch, since she did good work, and allies in the underworld were hard to find. "Well, let us come over, and maybe we can work out a deal."

"Captain," Rhodonite interjected. "Perhaps, we do have something that could help the situation."

"Whadaya got, Rho?" Lars asked, surprised.

From her seat, the officer reached down to the floor between her feet, and then, held up a clear jar, that contained a square, pink and greenish stone, before her captain and the black market shipwright.

Spanner recognized the container's occupant, on sight. "Hey! That's a Tourmaline. Spy Gems. I hate it when they start sniffin' around my operation. I've got no love for 'em, but if you're thinkin' what I think you're thinkin', then we might just have a real deal-maker, after all. Hmm, I think I'll put her to work for a little while, maybe a century or two."

Satisfied, Lars nodded to Spanner. "Good, then we'll see you, soon."

The Bismuth saluted, and then, ended the call.

Lars gave an impressed look towards his officer. "How did you come across an Authority Gem, like that?"

"It's a long story, Captain," Rhodonite sighed, as Fluorite chuckled to herself, and descended back towards Engineering to look after repairs.


End file.
